


Darling Brother

by TaraHarkon



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Character Death, Death, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, False Memories, Gaslighting, Gen, Manipulation, Manipulative Relationship, Memory Alteration, Psychological Trauma, Siblings, Wonderland
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-26 01:14:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20035420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaraHarkon/pseuds/TaraHarkon
Summary: Elven twins are never meant to be separated, not really. But what happens when they are? To what lengths would Lydia go to get Edward back, even when Keats is with her, alive and well?She would go as far as she has to.





	Darling Brother

That was the thing of it. Edward and Lydia ruled over Wonderland together, drinking in the suffering of the people who they had lured into their web. They were twins, together in everything they did. They always had been from the day they were born to the day they died and on into an eternity that stretched out forever. Lydia was the leader and Edward followed behind, less certain, taking her words as truth. 

That was how it had been since they had lost their little brother, Keats. 

It had been tragic, the little boy getting sick so suddenly and then dying. He had left them behind. For a time, it had seemed to Edward that Lydia would never be alright again, that she would never stop crying. He had done his best to be there for her, to support her through it, to do everything she said she needed him to do. If that meant studying necromancy with her, he did it. If that meant joining a cult and becoming liches together, he did it. If that meant creating Wonderland and siphoning the suffering of others to maintain their own existence... Well, of course he did it. Edward loved his sister and he would do anything for her. They were twins, after all. 

* * *

The thing is, Lucretia knew elves. She knew elven twins, more specifically. And there was no way in any universe that Edward and Lydia were twins. She had spent a century with a very particular pair of elven twins and she knew what they were like. Sure, Lup and Taako were _identical_ twins but still. Edward was too small compared to his sister, shorter and thinner in a way that spoke of decades between them. And spoke of just how _young _he'd been when he had become a lich. 

She looked each of them over, taking in their nearly identical grins. Everything about them was designed to be over the top, brightly colored. On one hand, she thought of animals in nature that were brightly colored like this. They were a warning to stay away, a sign that the creature was deadly. On the other hand, she had also seen illusionists try to use light and flash to draw the eye away from that which they wanted to conceal. This felt far more like that. 

Leaning heavily against her staff, her gaze went from Edward to Lydia and then back again before she shook her head.

"You're not even twins, are you? How many other things are you lying about?"

Edward blinked, confusion momentarily plain on his face. Then his ears flicked back and he stared at Lucretia, his eyes seeming to go out of focus.

"What?"

But before he could say any more, Lydia snarled, her beautiful face contorting with rage. She launched herself at Lucretia with no grace, no skill, just the fury of a lich who would not be denied. Lucretia's eyes widened and she slammed the base of the Bulwark Staff into the ground, both of her hands clenched around it. 

Red lightning slammed into the barrier Lucretia had erected around herself over and over again as she began to understand the true danger of her situation. She had found one of the secrets of Wonderland, one that perhaps one of the liches didn't even know. She just wished she understood what was happening a little better so she could do something about it.

* * *

Keats ran through the front door of the small cottage, a basket held in one hand. It was practically overflowing, a cloth tucked over the top to hold its contents in place. He set it on the small table, ears perked up and excited as he turned to look for his brother and sister. His mouth was open to call a greeting but then he stopped, ears dropping as he saw Lydia still sitting on her stool beside Edward's bed. Her eyes were red. They'd been red from weeping for so long that he could barely remember what she looked like without. And Edward... Edward was still. Sleeping, hopefully. He hadn't been doing a lot of that lately. 

Keats crossed the room quietly and put a hand on his sister's arm, trying to offer silent support. It was going to be okay. Everything was going to be okay. After all, she been trying so many things. She'd done all kinds of research and gone to temples and learned about gods he'd never even heard of before now. One of them had to have the answer, right?

But Eddie's hand was so still in Lydia's, so pale next to her skin. And she turned slowly to face him, tears streaming down her face. There was something frantic in her eyes, something almost manic. And she pulled him into her arms, dropping Edward's hand as she did. Keats put his arms around her, understanding in that moment. 

Eddie was gone. It was just them now. And it was up to him to make sure Lydia was alright without her twin, without her heart.

* * *

"Darling brother, can you get me the leather bound tome from the desk? No, no, the black one."

Lydia was smiling again. It had been almost fifty years now, but at least she was smiling again. She still spent so much time studying but if she liked it then Keats wasn't about to argue with her. He grabbed the book and handed it over. He was still shorter than her, not quite fully grown yet, and he had to look up to meet her eyes.

"Here you go. What's this one about?"

He leaned in, curious. She'd been teaching him lately the way she used to read the books to Edward when he was laying in bed.

"Well, brother dear, this one about the principles of necromancy. You really do need to learn the basic theories if we're going to make any progress, after all."

His ears flicked up and Keats recoiled slightly.

"Necromancy? Isn't that bad magic? I thought we weren't supposed to do magic like that?"

Lydia did not slam the book onto her desk, not really. She just set it down with force and authority. She set it down in such a way that it made a solid sound and Keats jumped, but she certainly did not slam it. He would know if she was slamming it with anger.

"Brother, there is nothing wrong with seeking to learn. And you will learn what I teach you. Do you understand?"

There was a tightness in her voice, a tension there that he didn't like. It reminded him of the bad days, the days right after they'd lost Edward when she was so lost and he was afraid that she was going to follow her twin. Keats didn't want to disappoint her, didn't want to send her back to that place. So he nodded and reached for the book.

"I understand. Promise. Show me what I need to learn, I'll do it."

She reached over and brushed his hair back, neatening it.

"Of course you will, dear. Because you're a good brother, aren't you?"

There. There, now she was back to smiling and everything was going to be alright. Keats smiled and started reading through the book. It was more complex magic than he was used to, but if this was what Lydia wanted him to learn, then he was going to learn it.

* * *

Keats adjusted the black robe he'd been given and tried to keep his ears and face neutral. He needed to look mature, like he belonged here, like he wasn't Lydia's kid-brother trailing after her. Which was, of course, exactly what he was. 

"Remember, dear brother, I had to tell them you're older than you are. Otherwise they weren't going to let us both join and I couldn't leave you behind. So, when we're with them, you're Edward. Do you think you can do that?"

He felt awful about it. About lying, about pretending to be his dead brother. And anyway, he wasn't half of who Edward had been. Keats was barely an adult, barely knew who he was, but he certainly wasn't as strong or as kind or smart or any of the things Eddie had been. 

But he pulled the hood up and nodded to the others as they called him Edward. He could do this. Just until they'd learned enough that they could leave here. Just until they'd learned enough that Lydia was done and he could go back to being little Keats and he didn't have to pretend to be Edward anymore.

* * *

It didn't sound like they'd be at this all that much longer. They'd already figured out the part to combine their magic with their souls and that sounded like the hard part. He and Lydia had anchors. They had each other. That would be fine. And, alright, he was a little afraid, but at least it was almost over. 

"Are you ready, Edward?"

Lydia held out her hand to him. Keats nodded slowly and took it. It was almost over.

"I'm ready, Lydia."

They stepped up to the altar together, Keats trying to hide the trembling in his hands as he raised them and channeled the power. It hurt a lot more than he'd been expecting, red lightning coursing all over him until his soul and his magic were finally released from his body and he hung in the air as a black robed specter. 

For just a moment, he was disoriented. Then he heard a voice and turned towards it, recognizing his sister.

"Edward?"

"I'm alright. Are you alright, Lydia?"

She smiled under the hood, skeletal features just barely visible. It had worked. Everything had worked. Edward-- No... no, Keats. Keats smiled back.

* * *

Lydia moved between the Reaper and her brother, a vicious snarl on her face. It was only half to protect him though and he knew it. He was also using it as a cover to prepare a spell. He lobbed it at the Reaper, launching him backwards just before the final pieces of it took and he grinned. A perfectly executed banishment. They wouldn't be seeing Kravitz for another year, at least. Lydia turned around, laughing now, a smile crossing her face from ear to ear. She hugged him as tightly as their spectral forms would allow.

"That was wonderful, brother dear. And hopefully now we'll have a little piece and quiet."

He smiled back at her, hugging her just as tightly. Then he started to pull back.

"Come on, Lydia. We should get moving. Even if we have a year, we do need to establish another safe house."

Lydia sighed dramatically but then she reached for his hand.

"Alright, Edward. If you say so."

Keats started to argue but something about that felt right. He took her hand as they moved off into the shadows.

"You know, we could always go back home to Felicity."

* * *

Edward felt awful a century or so in. Not because of anything wrong with their transformation, no, they'd both taken to that fantastically. No, it was what he could and couldn't remember. Most of it was clear. Their home, the village in Felicity, their childhood. But he couldn't remember their brother's face. Keats. Every time he tried to remember, he found himself picturing an older elf and that made no sense. Keats had been their younger brother. He had frail and sickly and he'd died suddenly. It had been horrible. He remembered holding Lydia while she sobbed. He remembered being strong for her through that, through the funeral. He didn't remember their brother's face. He didn't remember anything about him. 

Some nights, he would sit and stare at the stars, trying to remember. He almost wanted to ask Lydia on those nights. They could craft a seeming of him, an image. Something, anything so that he could remember and neither of them would risk forgetting again. Forever was so very long and Edward didn't want forever if he would forget about the people he loved. 

* * *

He'd lost track of time somewhere along the way but what he hadn't failed to notice was that they were having a harder and harder time staying stable. It was almost as though their bonds weren't enough, but that was impossible. Lydia kept telling him. There was nothing stronger than the bond between elven twins. _Nothing_. And something about that seemed wrong, but Edward was sure she was right. Lydia always seemed to be right about things like this. So clearly it was just that love wasn't strong enough. There were other emotions, after all. They could explore some of those and see what happened. 

"Obviously, it isn't going to be any of the positive ones, darling brother. After all, love is the strongest of those and that's failed us."

Edward frowned for a moment but shrugged. It didn't really matter, after all. Nothing mattered beyond the two of them. It was just them against the world, just like it always had been since Keats died.

"Then what do you propose? We can't waste time fiddling around with the lesser negative emotions. If we're going to go that route, we need to go the whole way or nothing at all."

A slow smile crossed Lydia's face.

"Edward, brother, you're brilliant. Hate, suffering, pain. That's what we need to employ if any of this is going to work."

Somewhere deep in his gut, he was certain all of this was wrong. But Lydia was smiling and that was all that mattered.

"Wonderful, dear sister. But we're going to have to find a way to bring the unsuspecting to us. We can't just wander around the world hunting. That would sure get that pesky Reaper on our tail once again."

They were both quiet for a moment, considering their options. It had been easy enough with their immense power to find a way to conceal their presence so long as they stayed in one place, after all. Perhaps the answer lay in that. Then Edward smiled, ears flicking up.

"Oh! I've got just the thing. What if we offered prizes... but of course, you have to compete."

Lydia's face lit up and she clapped her hands together in excitement.

"But the competition is merely a cover for our torment! Darling brother, you've done it again. Absolutely perfect. We should get right to work, don't you think?"

* * *

Edward's mind was reeling now, everything spinning as the words that woman had said repeated over and over and over again.

_"You're not even twins, are you? You're not even twins, are you? **You're not even twins**."_

He wanted to reject the idea whole cloth but things kept coming into his mind, things he couldn't explain, thoughts, memories. A boy looking back at him in the mirror, a reflection in a stream, a cold, pale hand clutched in Lydia's. He turned to look at her, trying to understand. Red lightning danced over his form until the illusory form he wore vanished only to be replaced with the black hooded robes of the cult they had once been counted as members of. The rest of the cult had long since been captured and dragged to the Astral Plane. Now they were the only ones remaining. 

And now Edward-- no... no... Keats? Maybe. He didn't know. He wasn't sure anymore. But he was shaking as he looked at the woman in her bubble. Lucretia. Her name was Lucretia.

"What do you mean? I'm... Lydia is..."

Lydia turned then, her eyes wide. She grabbed his shoulders, holding him tight as red lightning crackled over both of them.

"Edward? _Eddie?_" Her voice was frantic now. "You can't leave me alone, Edward. You can't. You have to pull yourself together and stay with me. _You promised me, Edward!_"

Edward. He was... Edward. Or Keats? No. No, he was Edward. And even if he wasn't, he had to be Edward for Lydia. He had to make Lydia smile. He hugged her tightly, carefully pulling his magic back under control as he focused on her.

Slowly, they both stabilized again and Edward turned to look at Lucretia. He stepped down of the stage and she strengthened her barrier.

"Well, well, well. That certainly was interesting, I'm sure. But did you know, dear, you've found your way to the escape game~" He held his hand out towards her and Lucretia eyed it suspiciously. She knew an unstable lich when she saw one and they were both far beyond unstable. They were barely holding themselves together. "All it takes is one more little sacrifice to leave."

Lucretia clenched her jaw. She'd already given so much to this place. She'd already lost her traveling companion. What else could they take from her?

"What do you want this time?"

He gestured broadly and then glanced back at his sister for a moment. Lydia was smiling and Edward knew he was doing the right thing.

"Simple, dear. Your memories of _us_. You'll remember everything else about Wonderland. Everything you did, everything you came here for even. You just won't remember having met us and you won't remember what you saw just now. But you'll get to leave here alive."

For a moment, it looked like Lucretia wasn't going to take it. Edward was considering spells in the back of his mind, trying to decide exactly how he would kill her if she refused. He couldn't let anyone out into the world who had seen what she had seen. He didn't even understand it himself.

Then her grip on her staff tightened and she nodded.

"Fine. I'll take it."

* * *

Lucretia was gone from Wonderland now but Edward still felt like something had changed. He closed his eyes, trying to turn his attention to any of their other contestants. Then he sighed and turned towards his sister.

"Lydia, dear?"

She tilted her head to the side as she turned towards him.

"Yes, Edward, darling?"

"Tell me again what happened to Keats?"


End file.
